Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Colorado GMU 161

We are looking at 161 for an archery elk hunt. Can anyone give me any general ideas about this unit? How is hunter density? Are there a lot of outfitter camps? PM me and we can talk details of where I am thinking of going.

Uh, and if you have any honey holes that produce elk every year, please pass that on too!

Probably not as much pressure in archery season, but just about any place in Co where you are within 4 miles of road gets heavy pressure.

I hunted that country years ago and stopped because it was too much up and down. Topo map lines get real close together. I wore out two mules in a week hunting it and can't say I saw a lot of elk. Mostly the opposite. Can't imagine doing it on foot.

You can take road 12 W and then 16 west out of Walden and work your way back into Zirkel Wilderness boundary. Lakes Katherine, Bighorn and Bear Lake set up there at the divide. It's a pretty good climb and about 4-5 miles in.

The Road 24 that cuts to the west off HWY 14 will take you up and over the divide at Buffalo Pass and then down into Steamboat Springs. That gets you high without too much of a climb, but it drops off both sides fairly steep. Probably more hunters at that divide. Both areas are probably 10K ft + in elevation.

I can't comment on outfitters. There were a few working that area back then. So I suspect there are more now.

I don't think there are any honey holes. If so I sure never found them.

thank you very much saddlesore! I wasnt serious about honey holes!

I am looking at the north part where the encampment river runs. seems pretty flat there comparatively.

4 miles you say? I have always heard 1 mile gets you away from the crowds.

We didnt draw where we expected to, so we are starting from scratch for this year. We just want a good overall experience, not a ton of hunters, good chance to get an opportunity at bugling elk that we will likely goof up somehow. No need for monster bulls. Raghorns are going to be just fine for us now.

I went t

I hunted there eight years ago with a fried that owns a cabin next to Pearl. We hunted hard for the whole week on horseback, and saw two Cows and a Moose. If you look up the harvest statistics you will see there are very few elk in this GMU. I spoke with one of the rangers up there and he said to look for other areas to hunt. He recommended 12 or 131. They have closed off the road to Zirkel so you will need horses. I was told that the closer you hunt to Wyoming to better. Good luck.

If your hunting Pearl that's unit 14 west side of the divide east side is 161 and 16. Not too far north of Pearl is unit 5.

The road that Saddlesore mention Buffalo Pass is seasonal rd that goes from Steamboat Spring over to hwy 14. Top of pass is southern boundary Mt Zirkel Wilderness and closed during the winter opens may/june each year. I sure can't see them closing that during archery.

There may be two Pearls. The one I am talking about is East of the divide in area 161. The road was closed for hunting seasons in 2006 and the ranger told us that it would be closed for all seasons to help the herd grow. I do no know if it is still closed, you may want to check. I do know there are not a lot of Elk in that area compared to other areas like 12, 24, and 131. These areas require three preference points. I wish you the best of luck.

I don't know how many times I've been over that road and I never knew the the road to the left towards Bear Creek Lake was old town called Pearl.

Pearl Lake and I'm assuming Pearl were name for same person. After your post I did search on town named Pearl which is not longer there http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/co/cojackson.html

http://www.pearllakehist.com/files/PLSP.pdf

I scouted Pearl (Lake) last year 1 month before archery and just before Pearl Lake is rd to the east that packers go into Zirkel. I guess got case of tunnel vision.

The back side of Independence Mountain on the north side of North Park is usually not too crowded in archery season, but gets slammed by out of staters. That's one of the few places in North Park that usually has elk.

The old town of Pearl is a very cool place. Used to camp there when not hunting a friend's property, Twisty Park, up by the Lakes. Never saw that many elk, but sure did run into moose everywhere. He always had a big bull come by the cabin and stick his head in the window around dinner time, looking for carrots or celery handouts. Saw many more elk up on Independence.